[Peter Mitry]

In the absence of mortgages the only option open to clients is to pay for the property during construction in one form or another. The most important payment is the 30 or 40% on contract as this covers most of the Developers costs. Most will be flexible beyond this. In the case of completed apartments some will even hand over the keys with 50% paid and wait up to a year for the balance!
In Spain the classic payment scheme was 30% on contract 70% on mortgage; this then got diluted with many Developers opting to reduce the contract money to as low as 10% with a further 10% after 12 months and the balance by mortgage on completion. However, with the market now in serious difficulties banks have tightened up on lending criteria and the 'no money down' system preferred by many UK investors is getting harder to achieve.
Cyprus has a good system; one Developer asks for just 5% on Contract, 5% on completion and the remaining 90% by way of a Swiss Franc mortgage at under 4% interest. In this case the mortgage is cleared prior to contract and the Developer can immediately begin to 'draw down' on the mortgage. Interest costs incurred are added to the mortgage and paid over the term.